Several Senate Democrats, and one Independent, are taking heat from progressives because they voted to end the government shutdown and re-start the flow of SNAP (food stamp) benefits to 42 million Americans without also getting Republicans to extend Affordable Care Act health care subsidies for 22 million individuals.

In the end, Democrats didn’t have the stomach to go on watching as people put their kids to bed hungry. In brutal contrast, Republicans seem to have that ability stockpiled. Now, the GOP gets to go on delighting in the knowledge that folks who depend on the ACA to make their doctor visits affordable will see their monthly insurance premiums, on the average, double.

During the shutdown, it was President Donald Trump who had to be ordered by federal judges to provide SNAP ben

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